Chisum criticizes amendment to waste bill

AUSTIN - Texas could become the dumping ground for huge amounts of nuclear waste under an amendment added to legislation on low-level radioactive waste site, the bill's author said Friday.

"If you take this amendment, you have set Texas up to be the dumping site for the United States," Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, told his colleagues during the sometimes heated debate.

Chisum postponed consideration of his bill by the House until next Thursday after it was amended to allow private companies to apply for a permit to operate the waste site. If he's unable to remove the amendment at that time, Chisum said he would ask the House to table his bill, which would kill it.

The amendment by Rep. Gary Walker, R-Plains, was backed by Waste Control Specialists, a Pasadena-based company that operates a waste storage site in Andrews County. Chisum said the company has had 24 "high-priced lobbyists" working on the issue.

Walker said he favors privatization, which he said would make the process more efficient.

Chisum's bill would authorize above-ground storage of low-level radioactive waste from Texas, Vermont and Maine at a yet unspecified location. Under a compact signed by the three states, Vermont and Maine will pay Texas $50 million to dispose of their waste.

But Chisum said Walker's amendment would open Texas to large amounts of U.S. Department of Energy waste that would be outside the state's control.